Device for exercising orthopedically and massaging the unshod human foot



May 4 1937- I O l BLUMFNTHAL.A 2,079,31l

DEVICE FOR EXERCISING ORTHOPEDICALLY AND vllIiASSAGING THE UNSHOD HUMAN FOOT FiledV Nov. 15,'Y 1955 Patented May 4, 1937 This PATENT OFFICE DEVICE FOR EXERCISING ORTHOPEDI- CALLY AND MASSAGING THE UNSHOD HUMAN FOOT Leo Blumenthal, Berlin-Charlottenburg, Germany Application November 13, 1935, Serial No. 49,615 In Germany July 28, 1933 8 Claims.

invention refers to a device for exercising orthopedically and massaging the unshod human foot.

It consists of a mattress or a mat partially lled with gravel or similar coarse material mixed with finer material.

Mattresses lled with powdered soap stone, which is capable of retaining and storing considerable quantities of heat, have been used before now for medical purposes and for treating the feet of patients by means of heat.

The

object of this present invention is to exercise and massage the unshod human foot and give to it that activity which a human being would get in r in free This unning barefoot on rough unpaved ground nature. invention makes it possible in a very simhouse, cles of the opportunity of developing the musits feet in the proper way. In accordance with this invention a container made of pliable, washable material shaped like a mattress or a mat and large enough to form a running track for a child or a patient, is partly filled with gravel,

broken stones, or some similar coarse, hard and lumpy material, with which finer material may be mixed. The lling of the container should not be tightly packed, so that when walking over this mattress the filling of the same can yield to assume fresh surface congurations and the foot is forced to arch itself to the irregularities of the surface of the mattress and to grip it and this massag in the over ro es the foot and stimulates it to arch itself same way as would occur when running ugh ground. The mat may be divided into squares each of which is lled with this material to ane face conguration.

COaI'SS xtent permitting this yielding of the sur- The filling may be only gravel or similar material, which in itself is unyielding, hard, and lumpy, and to it may be added sand, sawdust, horse-hair, sea-weed,

fucus o r other pliable material for the purpose of moderating the stimulating or irritating action of the hard, lumpy, gravelly material on the sole Of the foot. Sand alone is not suitable because it is a poor conductor of heat and might lead to chills.

arching action of the foot.

Also it is not adapted to stimulate an The filling must be such as to yield easily and not ball together in- Side th e container. The mattress may be made so that it is easily transported and is light in weight.

This foot exercising mattress may be (Cl. 12S-69) used for quite young babies and the coarseness or hardness of the surface may be temporarily reduced by putting a blanket over the mattress.

An embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view and Fig. 2 is a plan view of a mattress or mat filled with coarse and fine material.

Fig. 3 is a partial cross-sectional View on a larger scale.

I denotes the outer cover of the mat and 2 denotes a blanket or the like which can be easily removed and washed. 3 is the filling which, as indicated in Fig. 3, in this case consists of mixed coarse and fine material. The mat is by means of longitudinal and transverse seams divided in a plurality of parts or pockets 4.

1. A device for orthopedically exercising and massaging the unshod human foot, comprising a mat capable of forming a walking or running track for the patient and having a filling of bodies of such shapes that the friction between the bodies prevents a smooth sliding of the same over each other so that the mat presents a lumpy gravelly surface simulating rough unpaved ground in stimulating an arching action of the feet of the patient thereon.

2. A device accor-ding to claim l in which the mat comprises an envelope and in which the lling is packed somewhat loosely in the envelope to permit yielding of such material in the envelope and consequent changing of the irregular surface configuration of the mat.

3. A device according to claim 1, in which the mat comprises an envelope and in which the filling is packed somewhat loosely in the envelope in combination with a finer material to permit yielding of said material in the envelope and consequent changing of the irregular surface configuration of the mat.

4. A device according to claim 1, in which the mat comprises an envelope subdivided into pockets containing the filling packed somewhat loosely therein to permit yielding of said bodies in the envelope and consequent changing of the irregular surface configuration of the mat.

5. A device according to claim 1, in which the mat comprises an envelope subdivided into pockets containing the filling and in which the bodies are mixed with a finer material both packed somewhat loosely in the envelope to permit yielding of said material in the envelope and consequent changing of the irregular surface configuration of the mat.

6. A device according to claim 1, in which the mat comprises an envelope containing the lling and in which the bodies are mixed with saw-dust, sand, horse hair, or other fine material packed somewhat loosely in the envelope to permit yielding of said material in the envelope and consequent changing of the irregular surface conguration of the mat.

7. A device according to claim 1, in which the 10 mat comprises an envelope subdivided into pockets containing the lling and in which the bodies are mixed with saw-dust both packed somewhat loosely in the envelope to permit yielding of said material in the envelope and consequent changing of the irregular surface configuration of the mat.

8. A device according to claim 1, in which the bodies are irregularly shaped.

LEO BLUMENTHAL. 

